Ike Dike: Texas coast flooding project pending approval from Congress

HOUSTON — Hurricane season can be right here once more in only a few months and because of local weather change the storms are extra frequent and extra extreme than ever earlier than. 

That is why a unprecedented venture referred to as the “Ike Dike” is again within the highlight. Officers say it is the important thing to saving the Texas coast. 

“I do know what storm surge can do,” mentioned Michel Bechtel. 

Bechtel is Mayor of Morgan’s Level, Texas. He is seen the destruction storms do firsthand. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his dwelling. 

“It is a life-changing occasion,” mentioned Bechtel. 

Three years after Katrina, Hurricane Ike and its 17-foot storm surge slammed the Texas coast inflicting $30 billion {dollars} in injury. 

“We will not do something concerning the wind and rain in a hurricane, however we certain as hell can mitigate storm surge,” mentioned Bechtel. 

Ike Dike plans proceed after local weather change predicts rising sea ranges in Gulf

Bechtel now serves as President of the newly shaped Gulf Coast Safety District. It is a state physique that may handle and assist fund what’s often called the Ike Dike, large flood gates just like these used within the Netherlands. 

It has been 14 years because the idea was first sketched out by a professor at Texas A&M College Galveston. Now it is a part of the Military Corps of Engineers $29 billion plan to defend a big chunk of the Texas coast from mom nature’s wrath. 

“It is unprecedented for the Corps,” mentioned Mike Braden, chief of the Galveston District Mega Mission Division for U.S. Military Corps of Engineers. 

They are saying the whole lot is larger in Texas and the venture definitely matches that invoice. It is meant to guard 70 miles of shoreline turning Galveston Bay right into a sealable fortress anytime a hurricane threatens.

The Ike Dike | Here is what it’s

Huge gates that open and shut can be constructed alongside this 2.5 mile stretch between Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula. It is only one a part of a plan particularly designed to maintain life threatening surge from the nation’s busiest port in Houston and the continent’s largest petrochemical advanced. 

“This can be a giant protection system, nevertheless it’s defending one thing that’s nationally vital,” mentioned Kelly Burks-Copes, venture supervisor with the U.S. Military Corps of Engineers. 

Burks-Copes says it would be the biggest infrastructure venture within the nation. The federal authorities would pay for 65% of the associated fee, the remaining can be as much as Texas. And the clock to make it occur is ticking. 

“Doing nothing is a transparent threat,” mentioned College of Houston professor Dr. Donald Van Nieuwenhuise.

Consultants say each single hurricane season there’s an opportunity Houston can be within the path of a monster.

“It isn’t only one, we might see a sequence of hurricanes and with local weather change these can be stronger, so it isn’t an if, however when,” mentioned Burks-Copes. 

If authorized by Congress, the venture might break floor as quickly as 2023 and take 19 years to completely end.